


After the roadie

by JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle



Series: Summer and Fall 2015 [3]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Missing Scene, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 01:39:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7413559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle/pseuds/JustLookFrightenedAndScuttle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What Jack has to say to Shitty</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the roadie

**Author's Note:**

> This would come after the [OMG Check Please](http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/) comic 3.5.

Jack woke up feeling out of sorts.

He'd been feeling off since before the roadie, since the kegster after the Samwell game.

He’d had fun at the game, fun at the kegster afterward, lots of fun with Bitty, but Shitty’s outburst had knocked him off balance. 

He'd put it out of his mind as best he could when they were on the road, a stretch of three games across six days, talking to no one besides his team and Bitty. Even his Skype talks with Bitty were little more than perfunctory goodnights -- Tater was a good roommate, but he didn't often go out at night, which meant Jack had to pick his moments to talk to his boyfriend, sometimes Skyping from his phone in the bathroom with the shower running.

That first night, Jack had called from a bench outside the hotel, worried that his almost-denial that he was dating anyone had upset Bitty, worried that word he’d denied he had a girlfriend would get back to the team, to Tater, feeling guilty -- again -- that their relationship put Bitty in this position.

Bitty had soothed him, reminding Jack that Bitty had his own reasons for keeping the relationship private, at least for now. “Maybe the time will come to start telling people,” Bitty said. “But after what happened, I’m honestly wondering what would happen if Shitty knew. I mean, I know he’s not the sort to disrespect anyone’s wishes when it comes to their privacy, but he kind of lost it. I don’t know. I know Lardo’s been … well, can you be angry and pining at the same time? ‘Cause that’s what it’s like. Like she misses him, but she’s also upset with him for the way he’s buried himself in law school.”

“Yeah, for someone who wasn’t sure they wanted to go to law school, he seems pretty invested,” Jack said.

“Are you OK, honey?” Bitty asked. “Some of the things he said to you -- you do have friends, you know, and not just me. Or Shitty.”

“Thanks, Bits. I know. I love you. Talk to you tomorrow, all right?”

“Love you too. Talk to you tomorrow,”

Five days later, Jack didn’t get home until after midnight. His talk with Bitty had consisted pretty much of, “I’m home, I love you.” “I love you. G’night.”

When he woke up the next morning, though, Shitty was on his mind. Before he could think better of it, Jack texted him.

_I’m picking you up for lunch at 11:45. Be ready._

Then he went for a run to clear his head and consider what to say.

When he got back, he had a text from Shitty.

_What the fuck! You woke me up! You woke Lardo up too, you fucker._

_But I'll be ready. At the Haus._

Jack smiled and texted Bitty. 

_Gonna pack a lunch and commune with Shitty. Meet me off campus later?_

Bitty responded faster than Jack would have been able to type. _I'll get lunch together for you. I'll be studying this afternoon at that coffee shop on Adams._

Jack decided to troll for information.

_Why’s Shitty at Samwell? With Lardo?_

Bitty took a little longer to respond.

_I think she got through to him the night he went off on you. She told him he couldn’t drive back to Cambridge and he should go sleep it off in her room. Since then she’s been really happy? And he came back for our game last night and stayed, even though there was no kegster._

A pause.

_And they both keep looking at me like they feel sorry for me._

_Lunch will be in a bag in the fridge._

Jack was still a little puzzled. It would be good -- probably -- if Shitty and Lardo got together. But what did that have to do with Bitty?

When he arrived, Shitty was waiting on the porch with their packed lunch. They walked over to the lake and sat at a picnic table, despite a chill that had them hunching into their jackets.

“First,” Jack said, “I want to apologize. I should have made a better effort to be around. I know you’re swamped, and you don’t like the people, and you can’t behave the way you want to, and it sucks.”

“It’s all right --”

“Wait,” Jack said. “I’m not done. I thought about this, and while I haven’t been a very good friend the last couple of months, some of the things you said to me were out of line. You know I have a hard time making friends, and you know me well enough to know how hard I tried. When you said I had no friends, well, for a minute I maybe thought it was true.”

“Brah, I’m sorry,” Shitty said. “I had no call to say that. I was overwhelmed and felt like I had no friends.”

“And if I was dating someone, that’s not information I owe you,” Jack said. “Maybe the person I date will want their privacy, too. You don’t know how the paps can be. And besides, I couldn’t believe it was Shitty Knight, tireless fighter against heteronormativity, speaking. I think that was the weirdest thing.”

“Well, come on, there hasn’t been an out player in the NHL, and I didn’t think you wanted to be first,” Shitty said. “Give me some credit. I don’t know exactly what happened with you and Kent Parson, but I didn’t want to feed the rumors.”

“Yeah, well next time, it works better to not bring my romantic life, or lack thereof, up -- loudly -- in the middle of the party,” Jack said.

“Point taken,” Shitty said. “I was being a dickhead.”

They ate their sandwiches -- something with turkey and pesto and something Jack wasn’t sure of -- in silence for a moment.

“So what’s with you and Lardo?” Jack finally asked. “Bitty said you stayed over that night, and she’s been really happy since, and here you are again.”

“She may have talked sense into me,” Shitty said. “Maybe. But listen, we gotta talk about Bitty.”

Jack’s breath caught, but Shitty was looking at his sandwich.

“Bitty? What about him?” Jack asked.

“You gotta stop calling and asking him for favors like this,” Shitty asked.

“I don’t think he minds making food for anyone, Shits,” Jack said. “It’s kind of his default mode.”

“No, brah, I mean, you’re off living your NHL dream, and maybe -- I’m not saying for sure -- Lardo and I are figuring things out, and he’s like the odd guy out,” Shitty said. “I don’t know if you ever realized, but he’s been pining after you for, like, ever. There were some times last year I thought maybe … but with you playing hockey and all, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Just, don’t make it harder on him, right, brah?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://justlookfrightened.tumblr.com)!


End file.
